Boardgames, Card Games, Gaming
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/180027/item/3480207#item3480207
First (to the best of my knowledge) Math Trade for boardgames in Ireland. Math trades are something I’ve seen many times but never really understood until now.
Have a look see. I’ve a few bits I’ll be putting up for trade on it
Vic
Oh yeah Huzzah!
I tapped Jane Fonda, my opponent tapped mother Theresa. To each their own…
KGB v CIA Is a fairly simple two player game where opponents duke it out for world dominace (what else is there?) in the cold war era.
The game comes in a small box and consists of a stack of
BOOM!
Objective cards (worth points)
BOOM!
Groups (various groups you deploy to exert influence on the objective and hopefully claim it all with abilities and variable influence points)
BOOM!
Agents (your operatives who have special abilities)
The game is split into rounds where an objective is revealed showing a place and how many groups can operate in that theater along with the “ah now stop lads you’re taking the piss” level of influence that can be exerted before the region rebels and hands the win to the other player. Often a region will have a global affect as well that affects the round so every time you play its nicely different.
each player picks an agent to do their dirty work for that round and you take it in turn to draw and place groups from a face down stack up to the max that can be shoehorned into that objective. It’s awfully like blackjack where you want to get close to the max level of influence for that region but not go bust. Go bust and your opponent wins. Unlike black jack however you have a lot more control of the cards once picked and it’s quite possible to recover from a losing position
The cards you play in addition to exerting influence each have a special once off tap ability like remove or steal an enemy card. Tap any card and so on
It’s quite the little plate spinning exercise trying not to bust, keeping under the pop limit, trying to mess up your opponents play and planning which agent to employ in the next round not to mention drinking coffee and sledging your opponent “PAH! Call THAT an army I’ll show YOU an army”
Each round of the game yields roughly 5 – 15 points and first to 100 wins it.
You won’t go through the whole deck in a given game and I’m always a fan of this sort of thing when it comes to replays
I like this game. It clever it’s snappy and as two players games go it’s one of the better ones. Now it’s not twilight struggle it’s not even twilight lite it’s a different animal altogether and to a certain extent the setting has been tacked on. It is a solid game . It’s very tasty. Earning points is s struggle and anyone can be a winner in any given round. In fact losing a round convincingly is a valid tactic too when assassins are used.
For what you get its a great value game. Shop around and you’ll pick it up for a tenner
If you’re looking for a good two player game that will play out in under an hour has pictures of both mother Teresa AND Jane Fonda this is definitely the one to go for
Huzzah!
Vic
In the run up to Knavecon V I’m going to be calling on a variety of gamers (some of them literate) to do a weekly “I like this game” short review of a game they really like or just a rant about something, either’s good. Probably.
Watch this space…
11th April 2015 – Knavecon V – It’s Booked, It’s On, It’s Happening
It’s going to coincide with International Tabletop Day. It’s going to be at the very least AWESOME!
“Fortune Favours the Knave”
Huzzah!
Vic
After a long absence I’m going to actually make it to Gaelcon this year
Just like confession I couldn’t tell you the last time I was there, certainly a number of years. I seem to recall a pub quiz, some extended refreshment and a fruitless quest for fried food. It was all black and white and there may have been pirates.
I’m looking forward to meeting in Person some of the people whom I’ve only chatted to online and catching up with a few I haven’t gamed with in way too long.
If you are attending make sure to make yourself known and join me for a game or two.
SO… Who’s game?
Huzzah!
Vic
Love letter is a bit of a misnomer, there’s no letter and there’s surely no love when you play this game. I love simple, clever games and Love Letter is certainly one of these. It has sixteen cards and it still manages to deliver like a boss
It’s best played with three to four players (the max) and it plays out in say twenty minutes or so. The first few games take a bit of getting your head around and being told repeatidly draw one, play one eventually gets through your skull.
You start the game with one of seven possible card types some of which have multiples. They are the usual motley crew of medieval archetypes, Priest, Princess, Duchess, King, Guard and so on. Each of them have a special power and each of them can dampen either you or your opponents ardour.
The idea is you need to end the round with a card higher ranked than your opponents or knock them all out of the round before the cards run out.
This can be achieved in a number of ways, the easiest being naming what card an opponent has by playing a guard (yes sometimes it’s pure guess). Forcing them to discard a particular card, punching them in the throat (not sure this is an official rule), Challenging them to have a higher card than you with the Duke. Other cards allow you to swap hands or view another player’s cards. It’s very much Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock and it works very well indeed. It is if you will perfectly formed.
The game is purely reactionary, you have to think on your feet (even when you’re sitting down) and there’s always a way to win. This sounds like a wine buff (there’s hints of blackberry) but there are hints of other games in here but none of them are overpowering nor is the game too similar to anything else. It very much stands on its own.
I’m always amazed how music works, a half dozen notes into a tune you have something unique, the same is true of love letter. It’s unique, it’s fun and it’s criminally cheap. You can pick it up for less than ten euro and you will play it again and again. Of all the essential games to have in your collection, THIS is top of the list
Go now and pick up a copy and if I’m wrong you can punch me in the throat at the next Knavecon
Huzzah!
Vic
I’m reliably informed (if you’re someone who trusts gamers) that it wasn’t the lava or indeed the ash that killed the population of Pompeii it was the pyroclastic surges.
Well that’s all well and grand but lava is the staple of so many adventure stories and when we played on Thur it was lava and to be even more accurate ME that killing the good people of Pompeii left and right.
The downfall of Pompeii. The game is medium length under an hour will see you good. We played it three time last week. THREE TIMES. that should tell you alone how good this game is. A few of the guys at knavecon IV had played it stupid and had recommend to me. They weren’t wrong
The game is very simple. Each turn you add one of your meeples to a building based on the cards in your hand. Each building can fit a limited amount of meeples and placing one in an occupied building lets you place additional meeples elsewhere via the relative rule
So the first half of the game you’re loading your guys (as many as possible) into building, preferably ones close to an exit because all hell is going to break loose come act two. During the first phase there’s cock blockery aplenty with players jockeying for the best spots like Guerrers trying to get up on a phone box during a parade. Omen cards allow you to (with great pleasure) take an enemy meeple and chuck them into the volcano freeing up some choice real estate but in no way appeasing the angry gods.
Then suddenly it’s fire and brimstone ,nikes on and to hell with making an orderly exit.
Once the second eruption card is pulled its lava from there on out. Players add an extra all devourer lava tile onto the already bubbling mass that’s rising up from six points within the city. So every turn a player gets to steer the avalanche hopefully onto enemy meeples and iggy pops two of his dudes to the nearest exit (the so long suckers salute is taken for granted)
Once everyone has exited Hanoi or at least got as many out as they could it’s all over and it’s most survivors that carry the day
This is superb. Absolutely fantastic game. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Works great with kids too. Despite what seems like a very simple game there is depth here. Each time we played it we found a bit more
Get this game. It’s cheap. If I was to fault it the build quality could be better and I already see a bit of wear and tear after three games but I can forgive
Going to play this again real soon
Huzzah
Vic
Castle of the devil is a game I’ve been after for a while. It’s gotten mixed reviews and a lot of reviewers have said that the resistance is superior. That’s fine. Being not quite as good as the resistance is still pretty good and opinions are like just that.
The first thing that struck me about the game is the size. It’s tiny. A little bigger than a desk of cards (60 cards or so).
The Second thing is the fact that it’s in both German and English just like Irish roadsigns (you know what I mean) but with the foreign language on top. It’s fine btw just takes a little bit of getting used to
The third thing is how long it takes to play. Usually USUALLY a small game takes a small amount of time to play. Not so in this case we rattled on for a full hour with this and it was back and forth to the last.
The game itself is not bad at all. Not out of This world but not bad. The whole game resolves around a coach trip (the horse type) where the passengers are secretly split into two factions the brotherhood of lies and the other lads who hate lies. Probably. One group is trying to secure three keys and the other is trying to secure three goblets for their respective teams. Note the word team. Now the fun bit is you start not knowing whom works for whom and it’s a race to deduce who’s who then a grab for the keys or goblets. Simple.
Each member starts with one random luggage object and a random profession which grants either a one off ability like poisoning someone, breaking up a fight or a not so powerful game long ability like being a good fighter or a bodyguard and so on
Professions are hidden until needed so there’s lots of HA HA! Moments in the game which I liked.
Each turn players swap items of luggage or in our case quite a bit stop the carriage and challenge each other to a duel at which point players in turn declare whom they are siding with and either assist the attacker or defend the victim. The winner in either case gets a sneaky look at who the loser works for or gets to half inch one of their luggage items.
The luggage items apart from the goblets and keys all have special abilities often triggered by trading them to another player. They might help a player in attack or defence. Allow a player to examine who they work for. Cause a player to break out in hives, not be able to drink apple juice and so on. I’m kidding and you get the idea
By a careful study of players actions and a series of judicious beatings you can figure out who’s who and to win all you need do is stand up and in a “I’m Brian and so is my wife” style declare whom you work for, that you have a key/goblet and so have those other guys that work with you…. get that wrong and you lose
It’s an interesting game. I think we over played it on Thur until there was no doubt of whom everyone was and then it was a tug of war to secure the goblets/keys. My team lost. Worst team ever.
We also played the first game objects only so we haven’t tested the whole game with all of the luggage. All and all it was good but not brilliant but I’ll hold fire until I’ve played it again and in full
Until that day Huzzah and safe home (to the castle of the devil)
Vic
An important part of any gaming night is the music. The last thing a gentleman or lady wants to hear is the Tick Tock of ones old grandfather clock from the main reception as you sweep your croupier stick across the playing field. Puts one right off
Too many of us rely on the classics. The Lord of the rings soundtrack, Conan the barbarian or if it’s a game of x-wing the Emperors march.
Now I’ve been accused (quite rightly) of having inappropriate music at a games night, Truth be told gentle reader of late I’ve gotten a bit lazy. I just stick on a web radio like
Radio paradise or Somafm and let the interweb do it’s thing.
By right I should really hook up Spotify but I have my reasons not to. I do have an end of life squeezebox and that performs admirably and a stack of mp3s of questionable value thanks to radio Kerry. That said picking out music during a hand is a sin punishable by at the very least death
So I guess rather than give my opinions today I’m asking what do YOU think is good music to game to? Opinions may vary, Wars may start but the best place to defuse them as always is on the gaming table (unless you have a dark alley nearby)
Huzzah!
Vic
Thanks to all the gamers and gaming groups out there that have been helping me of late to promote this blog. It’s been a pleasure (so far) writing it and I hope anyone who’s read it has not been wealthy enough to afford a decent hitman. more to come
Huzzah!
Vic
Victor Gannon Games 